What protections do undocumented workers have against workplace abuses?

Last week, federal prosecutors charged the owner of a chain of Boston area pizzerias, Stavros Papantoniadis, with the crime of forced labor. He allegedly targeted people without immigration status to work extensive hours in his restaurants for shoddy pay and under abusive conditions. He appeared in federal court yesterday for a probable cause and detention hearing, and the judge has yet to rule on whether he'll be released on bail. GBH News legal analyst and Northeastern law professor Daniel Medwed joined Morning Edition hosts Paris Alston and Jeremy Siegel to talk more about these allegations, the definition of forced labor under federal law, and why it took so long to break this case in the first place. This transcript has been lightly edited.

Jeremy Siegel: Tell us about Papantoniadis and the allegations against him.

Daniel Medwed: He's the owner of Stash's Pizza, which is a local chain of restaurants with current outposts in Roslindale and Dorchester. And he previously owned five different pizza shops spread across the commonwealth. Now, according to the U.S. attorney's office, over a period of many years, he forced non-citizens to work excessive hours in his restaurants, often without breaks and without overtime compensation, and he routinely threatened to alert immigration authorities about their status if they failed to comply with his outrageous workplace demands. There are even allegations that he resorted to force to keep workers in line. Apparently, seven former workers have come forward. They haven't been identified by name. One of them, listed only as "Victim 1," allegedly worked there from 2001 to 2015 and claims that during that period, the owner belittled his Muslim faith, kicked him, shoved him, at one point broke his teeth so that he now has to wear dentures. Reading these charging documents, it's a remarkably harrowing and disturbing account of what may have happened there.

Paris Alston: It is really disturbing, Daniel. I mean, just reading through the affidavit, there's so many details in there, some of which we cannot talk about on air because they are so terrible. And one thing that jumps out from what you said is that Victim 1 worked there for 14 years. And some may be wondering, well, why wouldn't they just leave and go find another job, especially if they're being subjected to something like that? And I can understand why that victim may have been reluctant to come forward. But do you have a sense of whether the owner here was on law enforcement's radar screen before now?

Medwed: I think there were indications over the years, Paris, of problems brewing at these restaurants. So for one thing, six years ago, the Department of Labor launched a lawsuit against the owners for withheld wages and falsifying time records. That resulted in a court-ordered injunction designed to halt these practices. And in fact, federal investigators apparently went on-site to warn workers about their rights under this injunction. And the case was resolved when the owners were ordered to pay $300,000 in back wages. For another thing at the state level, our Massachusetts attorney general's office has a unit that fields complaints in this area, and apparently has received three workplace complaints about these restaurants in recent years. So I think it's fair to say that the owner here was on law enforcement's radar screen. But what probably converted this case from just being on the radar screen to going into a court setting was that several brave former workers came forward and were willing to put their stories into the official record.

Siegel: Daniel, let's look at the specific charge here. What is the crime of forced labor, and what kind of punishment could he potentially be facing?

Medwed: So he's being charged under a very specific federal statute. It's known as 18 U.S. Code Section 1589, which makes it a felony for someone to knowingly force another person into labor through force or the threat of force, or through the abuse or the threat of abusing the legal process. That's a lot of legalese. But at bottom, the defendant is being accused of forcibly making non-citizens work at his restaurants and essentially abusing or threatening to abuse the immigration process to exert control over them. Now, if he's convicted at the high end, he's looking at a potential sentence of 20 years in prison. That's the maximum sentence here.

Alston: And I know as a result of his court appearance yesterday, it's possible that he could be facing other charges related to the way he managed his business. And, you know, Daniel, I was telling Jeremy last week that one of the Stash's, in Dorchester, is not that far from my house. I've been there a couple of times. And it wasn't in this time period, but looking back, I'm like, wow, I mean, how would anyone have known, right? And it points to this bigger question of how prevalent this is in the Boston area. Do you think that this happens way more often than we think?

Medwed: Regrettably, I think it does. All signs indicate that forced labor is around us, and it's often very hard to detect, as you point out. So, for instance, I looked at some statistics from the International Labor Organization, which as of 2016 estimated that there were 24.9 million people embroiled in forced labor across the world. Many people here in the United States, often in the domestic work sector. Locally in Boston, workers' rights advocates report that stories like this are all too common. They hear this all the time. But of course, one of the major stumbling blocks is that the victims here are reluctant to come forward for fear of potential immigration repercussions.

Siegel: How realistic are those fears? What rights, if any, do undocumented immigrants have in the workplace in these situations? Is there any type of whistleblower protection available?

Medwed: Yes. So all workers have rights, both federally and in Massachusetts, including people without proper immigration documents. And the Biden administration in particular is making major strides in this direction to incentivize harmed workers into coming forward in scenarios like this. In January, the Department of Homeland Security launched a new program that creates a streamlined procedure for people to get what's called a two-year deferred action on any removal or deportation proceeding if they happen to be a witness in a workplace dispute or the victim of some type of workplace injury like this. So you can get two years of deferral on your immigration proceeding, possibly renew that for even longer. And during that period, you can get a work authorization permit. So the hope is that by having this relatively easy-to-access deferred action program, it will encourage or motivate people to come forward.

Here in Massachusetts, we also have some great advocates that the Massachusetts attorney general's office under Andrea Campbell is making this a priority. We have tremendous nonprofit organizations, including Greater Boston Legal Services, that are there to help. So there are resources and there are protections.

Alston: And we should mention, if folks may suspect that this is happening in their community, they can reach out to the attorney general's fair labor hotline at 617-727-3465. That's GBH News legal analyst and Northeastern law professor Daniel Medwed Thanks so much.

Medwed: Thank you both.